Did you know
A fishing hotel.
The hotel stands right by the River Thurso, and anglers come back for its salmon fishing.
Caithness
Ulbster Arms Hotel
A four-star hotel on the banks of the River Thurso at Halkirk, a fishing hotel with a panelled lounge, a bar and a restaurant, a short drive from Thurso and the Orkney ferry.
Welcome
In the village of Halkirk, on the banks of the River Thurso, a handsome stone hotel with a turret on its corner welcomes fishermen and travellers.
The Ulbster Arms is a four-star country hotel, and it keeps the comfortable, well-worn feel of a sporting inn.
The river runs past the door, and the salmon fishing draws anglers back year after year; a mounted salmon watches over the panelled lounge, with its leather chesterfields and paisley cushions. There is a dark wooden bar for a dram and a steak, and dining rooms, one a snug panelled nook under a chandelier, where the kitchen serves slow-cooked beef, venison and the like. For families and groups there is a lodge across the beer garden.
Thurso is eleven minutes away and the Orkney ferry at Scrabster not much further. There is free parking, with chargers for electric cars.
Before you go
A hotel, open all year; the bar and restaurant are open to non-residents.
Book rooms direct on the hotel's site.
- Where
- Bridge Street, Halkirk, KW12 6XY.
- River
- The Thurso, by the door.
- To Thurso
- About 11 minutes.
Did you know
Did you know
A lodge for groups.
Across the beer garden is a lodge with its own kitchen and log burner.
Ben Lerwill
From our guide to Caithness
A 19th-century bolthole on the banks of the River Thurso, this tradition-heavy hotel boasts log fires, premium doubles and an a la carte restaurant, although you may find it hard to drag yourself away from the wood-panelled Lounge Bar, complete with an original carved fireplace from a Dutch galleon. There are three lodges in the grounds, including one in a converted barn, so the accommodation options are numerous.
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What is on in CaithnessWhere it is
On Bridge Street in Halkirk, by the River Thurso, about six miles south of Thurso, KW12 6XY.
Close byHalkirk.
Pennyland House7 miles 14 min by road
OliveOlive calls itself ‘a shop within a shop’: an informal coffee shop and dining space.7 miles 12 min by road
The View, Thurso8 miles 14 min by road
Forss House HotelAnother country house, west of Thurso.12 miles 22 min by road
Grey Cairns of CamsterNeolithic tombs on the moor.16 miles 32 min by road
Dunnet HeadThe most northerly point of the mainland.20 miles 33 min by road
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Places to stay near the hotel, and when each is next free.
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Find out more
For further reading, before you go.